Phillip Woodruff, a senior FAA manager, has been named to receive the 2003 Frank G. Brewer Trophy for aerospace education from the Arlington, Va.-based National Aeronautic Assn. He was cited for his work as an aviation and space education adviser and program director, and in fostering partnerships among government, industry and education. Woodruff's efforts have led to the creation of aviation education programs in every state, including more than 100 Aerospace Education Resource Centers for teachers and more than 100 Aviation Career Education Academies for youth.
The two industry teams competing for the British Defense Minstry's 800-million-pound ($1.4-billion) Watchkeeper recon unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program are due to submit final bids Mar. 18. Teams led by Thales and Northrop Grumman are vying for the Watchkeeper, which is intended to provide armed forces with a key tactical intelligence surveillance target acquisition and recon (ISTAR). Final selection is now expected by the fourth quarter of this year, with elements of the system to enter service in 2006.
Expectations that the U.S. will field a new generation of stealthy, long-endurance unmanned reconnaissance aircraft are dying, perhaps already dead, say officials mapping Raytheon's technological future.
Two general paths exist for the return to the Moon proposed by President Bush. One is the familiar "policy" path that has NASA playing the lead role. NASA's primary objectives lie in the worlds of exploration and science, as well as human permanence in deep space, objectives I fully endorse. But a parallel "private" path would have investors taking the financial lead and a corporate management structure providing implementation in cooperation with universities and appropriate government research and regulatory agencies.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Douglas Barrie (London)
With orders and earnings up sharply, and currency and financing risks seemingly under control, EADS has reaffirmed that it is set for a strong recovery. The company last week reported an 8% rise in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for 2003 and a doubling of orders, to 61 billion euros ($75 billion). Free cash flow before customer financing tripled, to 2.1 billion euros, and net income reached 152 million euros, against a 299-million-euro loss in 2002.
After many years in the red, Eurofly's numbers have turned black. The charter operation is 80% owned by a Profilo Bank private equity fund and 20% by Alitalia. In 2003, Eurofly had a 2.8-million-euro ($3.4-million) profit on revenues of 160 million euros, compared with 110 million in revenues and a 6-million-euro loss in 2002, according to CEO Augusto Angioletti. The airline's new fleet comprises two Airbus A330s and five A320s, all leased, and is supplemented with five MD-82s, acquired from Alitalia for $2 million each.
South Korea and Boeing have finalized a $70-million contract for Standoff Land-Attack Missile-Expanded Response weapons for use on F-15Ks. The deal is the first export of SLAM-ER.
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Time is running out on the Pentagon's efforts to avert NASA's mothballing of wind tunnels, viewed by the military as critical for development of aircraft and helicopters.
Michael H. Zunk has been promoted to federal security director from deputy director at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Other new FSDs are: Detroit International Airport, Robert E. Ball, who was vice president-station operations in Minneapolis for Northwest Airlines; Billings (Mont.) Airport, John S. Kinney, who was assistant FSD at Chicago Midway Airport; and Lihue (Hawaii) Airport, John C. Kelley, who was deputy FSD at San Diego International Airport.
Robert R. Allardice is among the U.S. Air Force colonels who have been nominated to become brigadier generals. He is commander of the 62nd Airlift Wing of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), McChord AFB., Wash. Others are: C.D. Alston, commander of the 341st Space Wing, Air Force Space Command (AFSC), Malmstrom AFB, Mont.; Thomas K. Andersen, executive assistant to the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb.; Brooks L. Bash, commander of the 437th Airlift Wing of AMC, Charleston AFB, S.C.; Michael J.
There appears virtually nothing that would stop the Pentagon from declaring its national missile defense system operationally available around September. The Pentagon plans only one more intercept attempt before then. The last one was in December 2002 and it failed. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) bemoans the fact that numerous planned intercept attempts have been put off until after September. The Pentagon's testing director, Thomas P.
The European Space Agency has confirmed that perfect orbital injection of its Rosetta comet probe will permit the spacecraft to perform two asteroid flybys on its way to the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 (AW&ST Mar. 8, p. 29). Rosetta will visit Steins, a small asteroid a few kilometers in diameter, on Sept. 5, 2008, and Lutetia, a larger body 100 km. long, on July 10, 2010.
Ricky Chun-ming Leung (see photo) has been named director of business development for Bombardier's Hong Kong-based Flexjet Asia-Pacific charter network. He was its manager of operations.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] Mar. 22-23--12th Annual Conference on Quality in Space & Defense. Radisson-at-the- Port Hotel & Conference Center, Cape Canaveral. Call +1 (254) 776-3550, fax +1 (254) 776-3767 or see www.asdnet.org/csqdi Mar. 22-25--National Defense Industrial Assn.'s Fourth Annual Interoperability & Systems Integration Conference. Hyatt Regency Denver. Call +1 (703) 247-2570 or see www.ndia.org
The European Union began imposing additional customs duties on a broad range of U.S. products Mar. 1 in response to U.S. failure to repeal tax laws that have twice been found by the World Trade Organization to be illegal export subsidies. The EU countermeasures started with an additional 5% customs duty that will increase by 1% each month, up to 17% on Mar. 1, 2005. They will be dropped immediately if and when the U.S. Congress repeals the Extra Territorial Income tax relief program, which was substituted in 2000 for the Foreign Sales Corporation tax regime.
By embedding antennas in the load-bearing sections of composite wings for U.S. Air Force aircraft, Northrop Grumman expects to field low-frequency receiving and transmitting devices with enough sensitivity to simultaneously detect moving ground targets through dense foliage and track air-to-air missiles.
The U.S. government plans to increase export controls on cruise missiles and unmanned aircraft largely stemming from growing concerns within the military about having to face those systems on the battlefield. A slew of initiatives are being prepared among various executive branch organizations involved in the technology-control process. The new restrictions are expected to frustrate some in industry who feel U.S. export regulations already create a competitive disadvantage.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe has authorized a 2008 fly-off between two competing concepts for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) that would take humans to the Moon and on to Mars. NASA exploration systems chief Craig Steidle says he's terminated the two Orbital Space Plane contracts he inherited and given the contractors 90 days to report on the lessons they have learned.
This autumn, the U.S. Army will demonstrate a radar tag system that promises to greatly reduce battlefield fratricide incidents involving aircraft-delivered weapons.
Germany's Defense Ministry has awarded the Northrop Grumman Corp. a contract to supply 21 AN/AAR-54(V) warning systems along with spares to protect C-160 Transall transport aircraft.
Pemco Aviation Group will use Kellstrom Defense Aerospace for provisioning, sourcing and supplying parts and services in support of Pemco's C-130 maintenance contracts for the U.S. Coast Guard, Air Force, Navy and others.
Pierre Sparaco (Toulouse), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Suppliers in Europe are hoping that recent Boeing decisions to use European know-how for several key systems on the proposed 7E7 Dreamliner, including the landing gear, signal a policy of true global sourcing for the U.S. manufacturer, similar to that adopted by Airbus.
